RHW (RealHighway) - Development and Support

[Kuewr665]

It took me a few seconds to look at the pictures to notice anything new. 

Good work!

[Geometry123]

In good time.  Patience, young Padawan. 

Of course, patience is a virtue. Waiting for a new NAM requires a lot of patience and discipline.

[Geometry123]

Double posting, but whatevah!



I'd love to see rumble strips as RHW cosmetic pieces. Realistic for warning drivers that there is an at-grade intersection, toll barrier, merging traffic, or lane ending upcoming.

[Kuewr665]

There are rumble strips that are not painted as well. I usually find them at the end of a 2 lane highway where there is an intersection.

I don't see them on grade separated highways, but I haven't been on a toll road in years.

[APSMS]

I'd love to see rumble strips as RHW cosmetic pieces. Realistic for warning drivers that there is an at-grade intersection, toll barrier, merging traffic, or lane ending upcoming.

Given that only RHW-4 and RHW-2 can have at grade intersections, you might just consider making a Rumble Strip texture mod, that simply overrides the affected textures. I don't think it actually requires CPs.

[Tarkus]

I'd love to see rumble strips as RHW cosmetic pieces. Realistic for warning drivers that there is an at-grade intersection, toll barrier, merging traffic, or lane ending upcoming.

Given that only RHW-4 and RHW-2 can have at grade intersections, you might just consider making a Rumble Strip texture mod, that simply overrides the affected textures. I don't think it actually requires CPs.

That would cause massive crosslink override headaches with all other RHW networks, any time they got in the vicinity of any network with which the RHW-2 can form an at-grade intersection (which is pretty much every network).

If you introduce an override onto the base RHW-2 network, any other RHW network that encounters that particular setup, as well as any situation involving any override networks based on the crossing network, would require a bunch of overrides.  Even if you had an L2 RHW-10S crossing over a ground-level road, because the L2 RHW-10S is an override of the RHW-2, we'd have to add code to get rid of the RHW-2 rumble strips in order for the RHW-10S to continue, even though there's no need for rumble strips on it.  Similarly, with the Draggable Road Viaducts, should any RHW cross under one of those, because the default RHW-2/Road intersection would have the rumble strip pieces, you'd have to create overrides to get rid of the rumble strips.

The reason we developed CPs was to avoid cluttering the base network with special, largely cosmetic situations that make no sense on other override networks.

-Alex

[vinlabsc3k]

Not only RHW-2 and 4 but even 3 and MIS make at-grade intersections and they need rumble strips.

[GDO29Anagram]

Not only RHW-2 and 4 but even 3 and MIS make at-grade intersections and they need rumble strips.

You'll still have the same problem as stated above already: The addition of rumble strip code requires even more code to negate the rumble strip code for crossings that don't require rumble strips (RHW over RHW situations count as crossings, for example), which, in short, means an unnecessarily large NAM controller and an unnecessary feature to add (and an unnecessarily large headache) that can be easily solved using plain old puzzle pieces. The NWM had a similar issue, which was one of the biggest issues that had to be tackled before its first release.

[APSMS]

Huh, I hadn't considered that problem...I didn't realize that crosslink textures would come into play whenever there was a crossing. I thought it just referenced textures specific to the intersection, so the RHW-2/MIS intersection texture would be retextured with rumble strips, but the overpass, which I thought used a different texture, would not.

Also, I meant for Geometry to make the mod, not the NAM team. The take-it-or-leave-it component of such a mod would require it be made by a third party. So, no RUL editing necessary. I for one find rumble strips unnecessary, esp. since geometry's picture showed a RHW-8 equivalent, and such an intersection is [obviously] not possible with RHW.

I appreciate the ability to ask for potential features. I believe I asked for (though was not the instigator of) a few RHW-4 offramps (that is to say, ramps from a larger RHW to an exiting RHW-4) and was pleasantly surprised to find some such ramps in the NAM31 tab ring. However, when some stuff is purely cosmetic, I will take the functional stuff any day over unnecessary CPs.

[Tarkus]

Huh, I hadn't considered that problem...I didn't realize that crosslink textures would come into play whenever there was a crossing. I thought it just referenced textures specific to the intersection, so the RHW-2/MIS intersection texture would be retextured with rumble strips, but the overpass, which I thought used a different texture, would not.

Also, I meant for Geometry to make the mod, not the NAM team. The take-it-or-leave-it component of such a mod would require it be made by a third party. So, no RUL editing necessary. I for one find rumble strips unnecessary, esp. since geometry's picture showed a RHW-8 equivalent, and such an intersection is [obviously] not possible with RHW.

The rumble strips technically wouldn't be part of the intersection--there'd be no place to fit them in the intersection tile itself.  They'd actually end up having to be occupy an adjacent orthogonal tile leading into the intersection, and that's where it becomes a problem. You'd have to start getting into new IIDs and RUL modification (not a project for a third party), and because the base network would be entailed in those modifications, all networks would be, making it like the Automatic Road Turning Lanes conflict with the NWM and Draggable FAR, but several orders of magnitude more complicated than that, even.

The goal is to FLEX or "draggablize" a large part of the system, but CPs are the biggest exception--they're designed for the most detail-oriented users to have precise control at the micro level with the road markings, and they have minimal crosslinks, so keeping the base networks spartan and splurging on the static CPs is the most logical approach from a software design standpoint.

I appreciate the ability to ask for potential features. I believe I asked for (though was not the instigator of) a few RHW-4 offramps (that is to say, ramps from a larger RHW to an exiting RHW-4) and was pleasantly surprised to find some such ramps in the NAM31 tab ring.

And some of those will be FLEXRamps in NAM 32.  I'm presently working with the overrides on the RHW-10S Type E2.

-Alex

[vinlabsc3k]

...

You'll still have the same problem as stated above already: The addition of rumble strip code requires even more code to negate the rumble strip code for crossings that don't require rumble strips (RHW over RHW situations count as crossings, for example), which, in short, means an unnecessarily large NAM controller and an unnecessary feature to add (and an unnecessarily large headache) that can be easily solved using plain old puzzle pieces. The NWM had a similar issue, which was one of the biggest issues that had to be tackled before its first release.

I was referring to CPs case.


Speaking of CPs, I've a request, if I can for NAM 33(?):

This is a sketch:


It's very common in Europe.
Essentially it's a RHW-3>RHW-2 T-interchange with TuLEPs.

[MandelSoft]

Something like this?

[Jack_wilds]

neat and promising developments to say the least    like the updates    however, would like to interject about NWM and what is in store there... was the original intentions for NAM32 NWM update realized   

[Swordmaster]

If by original you mean the equivalent of NAM 31's massive P57 overhaul, then no, that has not been repeated for the NWM, and will not likely be done. Instead of spending many months in development hell, the new modus operandi is smaller, incremental (read: more workable) updates. While the NWM code will be updated and expanded, it's not currently scheduled to happen within a single development cycle.


Cheers
Willy

[Haljackey]

That looks... confusing. But, it also looks amazing!

[Tarkus]

I can confirm what Willy has said.  The effects of the controller increase sent us back to the drawing board on the NWM side, and there's likely to be just a few minor upgrades on that front.  (There are also plans for a P57 Mark 4 on the RHW side.) 

Most of the resources that would have gone into the NWM side went into the Draggable Road/OWR/AVE viaducts, which have been planned for 5 years, and, in actuality, add a fair bit of functionality to the NWM (Road-over-NWM, for instance), in addition to setting the stage for further NWM development.  The sudden surge of RHW development came largely off the QuickChange idea.

-Alex

[Jack_wilds]

Okay then... no worries... the game-plan sounds best way to go... trust that NWM will reach its best potential, as  I use it more than RHW in some instances; as in, its mostly rural in nature... enjoying the updates in the mean time... 

[Wiimeiser]

Something like this?

This would be nice to have.


Also, quick sketches of some of my previous requests attached.

Okay then... no worries... the game-plan sounds best way to go... trust that NWM will reach its best potential, as  I use it more than RHW in some instances; as in, its mostly rural in nature... enjoying the updates in the mean time... 

RHW doesn't necessarily have to be rural...

[Kuewr665]

So does that mean that NAM 33 will be more focused on NWM?

[Tarkus]

So does that mean that NAM 33 will be more focused on NWM?

It's possible, but we have no idea at this point.  The one limiting factor with NWM expansion is the fact that the next big step with it, which would entail getting diagonal intersections in place, is going to be an extremely time-intensive task, mostly from the work involved in pathing some of those intersections.  (RD-6 x OWR-4 OxD would be a case of something very difficult to path.)

I'd say the main things going forward with the RHW are further tweaks to the stability, adding some more QuickChanges and FLEXing a few other items, and making elevated versions of ground-level parts that don't yet have them.

-Alex